Weapons, warfare and industrial idiocy

The Wisdom of Professor Seagull

"It is the duty of the bohemian to make a spectacle of himself. If my informality leads you to believe that I am a rum-dumb or that I belong in Bellevue, then hold fast to that belief; hold fast, and show your ignorance."

Joseph Ferdinand Gould (1889-1957)

Cold War Reenactors

"We rely upon the good will of our fellow man - and the forbearance of reptiles."

"WOW" (Wisdom of Wally)...

Lot's of different pics of this sign.

"I don't make hell for nobody. I'm only the instrument of a laughing providence. Sometimes I don't like it myself, but I couldn't help it if I was born smart."

1st Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden."From here to Eternity"

Paul Valery

"You are in love with intelligence, until it frightens you. For your ideas are terrifying and your hearts are faint. Your acts of pity and cruelty are absurd, committed with no calm, as if they were irresistible. Finally, you fear blood more and more. Blood and time."

The Wisdom of the Ages

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed',"

Thursday, November 27, 2008

"Folk Art"

Being an exploration of the material culture of folks in extremis;Before I forget, Happy Turkey Day!Myself, I'm on the horns of a dilemma.The Little Woman has been, as usual, at her Mom's house acting as the little-engine-that-could, the aim being: A nice dinner a G'Ma's.Okay, but she's exhausted and gave me full permission to blow the dinner off as she plans on sleeping.Hmmm...Recalling that my most enjoyable T'giving that I can recall at present is the one that I spent burning my burn pile...You see my problem.Anyway, the holidays.I know times are tough and Christmas is always a financial killer so, this year give a gift from the heart.A homemade shotgun!Just kidding, kind of.The above pictured weapon, dating from the recent unpleasantness in Chechnya is (duh) illegal.It's minimalist approach to barrel length kicks it right out of the "law-abiding gun owner's club" and rightly so. Although the difference between this and a .410 Derringer (legal) seems a tad murky, at least to this kid.This pic came from here where many other examples of hand-crafted and modified weaponry may be seen.Most hilarious is the comments section. When they're not veering off into religion and/or politics, one of the main sentiments expressed is this:"Those guns are ugly! My gun's (alt "guns are") cooler than those." ParaphrasedYeah, we get it. But these have been used.Not to mention; which is more empowering, the ability to purchase a gun - or the ability to make a gun?No one's going to say this sort of thing will put Mossburg out of business. It's just that, if the basic issue here is the right to self-protection - and said "protection" would most likely take place at close range, how does this gun not answer - and admirably?Illegal. Gotcha.Pictured below, the same gun with a hypothetical (around 20") legal barrel so's it's not so scary to look at (actually legal to own as well. My understanding is that one can build any firearm that it's legal for you to own. You just can't sell them or give them away - no Christmas presents - sorry.)Above, I've also high-lighted the incredibly sophisticated action.Seriously, it's robust, functional... indestructible but with a trigger pull that must be like opening an old-fashioned refrigerator.What's brought on this renewed interest in homemade guns is a pattern noticed while obsessively tracking the five or six hits I get per day.The post most often (every day) clicked on is this.And the picture which, through Google Images, sends the most folks this way...The old '50's era Cypriot Special I added "My Little Pony" to see if this version turns up. Juvenile huh?)Please recall, plans for a more refined version of the versatile, homegrown scatter gun can be downloaded free at Phil Luty's site.Remember that barrel length.Keep it legal, kids.AKA Bardog